On the “protection” of women

“Well, I’m going to do it, whether the women like it or not. I’m going to protect them." —Donald Trump, October 30th, 2024

Sigh. As soon as I read about this gem of a moment at a campaign rally the frustration washed over me. Because of course the Abuser-in-Chief would manage to talk about protecting women in the same sentence as stating his intent to take women’s choices away. This is in no way accidental. It is absolutely symbolic of who he is and how he really feels about women — not as autonomous human beings free to forge their own path, but as extensions of himself and his oppressive world view. His completely misguided and self serving definition of protection has been on full display since his inauguration.

Just this week, Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from women’s sports. He was surrounded by girls and young women (notably almost exclusively white girls and young women) celebrating as he used his poison pen to sign his latest attack on the trans community. White House officials said the measure was necessary “to protect women's access to safe and fair athletic opportunities”. Ah, that protection word. First of all, my heart breaks for trans kids who are growing up knowing that the person who occupies the highest office in the land hates them, and not knowing if they will be able to experience regular childhood activities like sports. And my heart hurts for all the youth who are being taught that hate is okay, that denying someone’s very identity is acceptable as per the president of this country. I am not sure who that ultimately protects. It is hate looking for a problem to “solve”. As NCAA president Charlie Baker noted to a Senate committee in December, of the 510,000 athletes competing at the collegiate level, fewer than 10 publicly identify as transgender. So the urgency of protecting girls and women from that tiny number of trans athletes is a lie. A concocted emergency that only serves to further punish trans people for daring to want to play a sport — for daring to exist.

A side note, though an important one. It saddens me that just after Trump signed this hateful Executive Order the NCAA caved, changing their participation policy to ban trans athletes from playing in women’s sports. Charlie Baker said the change would provide "clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards” and that “President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard”. This is the same Charlie Baker that as governor of Massachusetts signed a trans rights bill just eight years ago guaranteeing protections from discrimination for the trans community. In a statement shortly before the bill was passed, he had the following to say: “No one should be discriminated against in Massachusetts because of their gender identity.” It makes me profoundly sad that the same man who signed that bill has now completely turned his back on trans folks. A shameful betrayal, really.

This whole performative nonsense about protecting women and girls from trans athletes comes on the heels of the extremists’ assertion that the Laken Riley Act was about stopping violence against women. It was not. As I have written before, the Laken Riley Act does nothing to get at root causes of violence, but instead puts immigrants at risk for detention and deportation just for being accused of crimes. Which gives abusers more tools to have power and control over immigrant survivors. Imagine having your abuser threaten to report you to the police if you don’t comply, knowing that such a call could have you sent away permanently?

And of course, all of this posturing about women’s safety is happening at the very same time that cascades of policies and actions are coming from this administration that will serve to put women and girls at much greater risk — here and around the globe. To give you a sense of what I am talking about…

On Friday the news broke that all available notices of funding were removed from the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) website, and grant applicants were instructed to stop working on their applications. If you are not familiar with OVW, this office provides funding and technical assistance to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking programs across the country. Having worked in domestic and sexual violence programs for most of my career, I can tell you that these organizations do a ton of work on very short money. Any disruption in funding would be catastrophic for these organizations and the survivors they serve. You cannot claim the Laken Riley Act is about stopping violence against women and then take funding away from the programs that actually work to stop violence against women. Not protective.

Just hours later another Executive Order is issued, also about protection. But this order is designed, and in fact named, to protect not human beings but the Second Amendment. The order calls for a review of a host of actions and policies to “assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens, and present a proposed plan of action to the President, through the Domestic Policy Advisor, to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans”. There is no language in the order that even references protecting people from guns, nothing about the catastrophic impact of gun violence on the residents of this country, and nothing expressing any empathy whatsoever for those whose lives have been forever changed — or lost — because of guns. In a country where an average of 76 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner each month, we already know that the intersection of domestic violence and easy access to guns is a lethal one. A further weakening of gun laws, coupled with a reduction of funding for domestic violence programs… well, I shudder to think of it. But think of it we must, in spite of Trump’s claims of protecting women.

Trump’s ongoing obsession with trans athletes compromising the safety of female students is even more curious when you compare it to another recent action, this one even more closely related to the experience of women and girls on school campuses — Title IX. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. It requires schools to respond to reports of sexual misconduct and take steps to prevent it and also works to ensure equal opportunities for women in sports, among other things. Trump and his supporters have been going after Title IX protections for trans students as a part of their hateful campaign against the entire trans community and to enable their banning of trans athletes from competition. But that’s not all. According to guidance issued in January by the Education Department, schools and universities responding to complaints of sexual violence must return to policies created during Trump’s first term, which had more protections for ACCUSED students. One of the most chilling aspects of that guidance is a requirement to hold live hearings where accused students can cross-examine their accusers through an adviser. I was a rape crisis counselor for many many years, and I can tell you that such a requirement would be traumatizing for a rape victim, and would serve as a deterrent for reporting the crime at all.

It’s not lost on me that there are very few female athletes are even at risk of being hurt by a trans athlete because the whole thing is a non-problem that has been made into a whole crisis only for political purposes. But there are a whole lot of female athletes, and female students as a whole, very much at risk of being hurt by sexual violence. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center estimates that one in five women are sexually assaulted while in college. One in five. I’ve accompanied too many college students to the emergency room to have rape kits done in my years as a rape crisis counselor. It galls me that women on campus now will have even fewer protections because of Trump. You know Trump, that guy who claims he will protect women whether we want it or not?

I could go on and on about all that Trump is doing to “protect” women domestically and around the world. From abortion bans to reinstating the global gag rule, which that restricts U.S. assistance to organizations providing, counseling, or advocating for legal abortion services, Trump has shown that he is willing to let women die instead of access abortion care. His attack on USAID, which spends $600 million annually on family planning work, shows that he is willing to sacrifice women’s autonomy for political purposes.

The sad reality is that protection is only interesting to Trump when it allows him to persecute. Safety is only appealing to him when it allows him to strip others of theirs. And nothing that he does actually keeps women safe. It only creates more risk for already targeted communities. It leaves more people vulnerable to hate and violence. Including lots and lots and lots of women.

“Protection” only as an abuser could provide it.